Parshas Vayigash

Connecting with the Avos - One Foot in the Grave

When Yaakov finds out that Yosef is alive in Egypt, he is tempted to join
him there. "And Yisrael said, 'Great - my son Yosef still lives. I shall go
and see him before I die. (45:28)" Still, there seems to be some
apprehension, because that same night Hashem appears to Yaakov and
tells him, "Have no fear of going down to Egypt - I shall descend with you
to Egypt, and I shall surely bring you back up. Yosef will place his hand
on your eyes. (46:3-4)"

There seems to be an inherent contradiction in Hashem's promises: On
the one hand, Yosef will place his hand on Yaakov's eyes - an idiomatic
expression referring to closing the eyes of the dead; i.e. Yosef will be
present and supervise at the time of his death. Yet Hashem promises
Yaakov, "I will surely bring you back up!" Rashi understands this as a
promise that while Yaakov will die in Egypt, he will be buried in Israel.
If Yaakov was in such fear of his impending journey to Egypt, how
comforting is it to be told that he will indeed never return, at least not
alive? It seems Yaakov's fear was not for his own safety - but for what?

Also, what does it mean when Hashem says He will descend with Yaakov
to Egypt - isn't Hashem everywhere at every time? And how is Yaakov to
find comfort in the bitter slavery his offspring will suffer in Egypt
because
Hashem will be there with them - does that ease the suffering? And what
is the significance of Yosef "placing his hand" on Yaakov's eyes?

On a sheirut (shared taxi ride) in Eretz Yisroel a few years after the
passing of the Chazon Ish, R' Avraham Yeshaya Karelitz zt"l (1878-1953),
two religious people in the back of the cab were talking to each other.
"You know, Bnei Brak just isn't the same since the Chazon Ish passed
away." "Yes," agreed his friend, "we need needs more Torah giants like
him."

Listening attentively from his seat in the front was the cab driver, Natan,
a non-observant Jew. He was dressed differently from his Orthodox
passengers in the back. He wore no kippah, and sported an open khaki
shirt over a pair of Bermuda shorts. Natan turned to the fellow sitting
on his right. "Did you hear what the men in the back said? They said that
the Chazon Ish is gone. They're wrong - they don't know what they're
talking about!"

Surprised that the obviously irreligious cab driver would even know who
the Chazon Ish was, one of them retorted, "Well, maybe you haven't
heard, but the Chazon Ish passed away a few years ago."

"No, you are wrong," said Natan emphatically, "the Chazon Ish is still
around - and I can prove it."

By now, all ears were listening to the cantankerous cab driver. Once he
had their attention he of course offered to prove he was right. They all
agreed to listen, and the cab driver began his story:

"My daughter was going through complicated labour. She had been
rushed to the hospital in Tel Aviv, and the doctors had been dealing with
her for many hours. She was in agony, yet the doctors seemed helpless,
and told me there was nothing they could do.

"At some point an old nurse came over to me and said, 'Why don't you
go to the Chazon Ish?'

"'The who?' I asked. 'What is the Chazon Ish?'

"'He is a great rabbi,' the nurse said. 'People go to him for advice, and
to
pray for them.'

"At my wit's end, I asked her, 'Where does he live?' She told me, 'Just go
to Bnei Brak. Once you get there, any child in the street will be able to
direct you to his home.'

"I got into my cab and raced to Bnei Brak. In no time I was at the
Chazon Ish's house. It was late at night, but he answered my knock
himself. In a quiet and friendly manner he asked how he could help me.
I told him about my daughter's difficulties, and how the doctors were
unable to help her. He looked at me, smiled, and said, 'You can go back
to the hospital - the child was just born.' He shook my hand and wished
me mazel tov. My heart leaped with joy, but I could not believe him. I
dashed back to the hospital and when I got there, sure enough, the child
had already been born, exactly as he said."

In the sheirut all that listened to Natan's tale were spellbound. But Natan
was not finished. He went on:

"Two years later my daughter was again expecting a child. Once again
she had extreme difficulties in labour. And once again the doctors
despaired of a healthy birth. This time I didn't wait for the old nurse. I
got into my cab, rushed to Bnei Brak, and went to the Chazon Ish. I
came to the corner where I thought I remembered he lived, and just to
be sure I asked a passer-by, 'Is this the home of the Chazon Ish?' The
man looked at me as if I had lost my mind. 'What's the matter with you?
Don't you know that the Chazon Ish passed away last year?'

"My heart fell. I felt as if I had lost my best friend. Illogically, I
began
pleading with this total stranger. 'Please, I came to speak to him; it's an
emergency. To whom should I go now?'

"'People go to his kever (grave site) and pray there,' he told me. I
queried
as to its location, and the man pointed me in the right direction. I ran
there at breakneck speed and jumped over a fence to catch some people
who might be able to tell me where he was buried. They pointed to a
grave that was covered with stones and pebbles. When I saw his name
I fell on the grave and began crying uncontrollably. I begged the Chazon
Ish to pray for my daughter. 'You saved my daughter once before,' I
pleaded, 'please pray for her again.'

"I was there a short time. Suddenly, just as I sit here now, I saw his face
with that same smile. I heard him say to me, 'Mazel tov! You can go back
to the hospital; the child has been born.' Startled, I got up, ran to my
cab, and rushed back to the hospital. When I got there, they told me
that my second grandchild had indeed been born. Then the cab driver
turned to the man sitting next to him and said, "And these people in the
back say the Chazon Ish is gone!" (Adapted from The Maggid Speaks p.
194)

When the Torah describes the death of Rachel, it says, "Yaakov set up
a monument over her grave; it is the monument of Rochel's tomb until
this day. (Bereishis/Genesis 35:20)." Why does the Torah go out of its
way to mention that the monument stands to this very day - something
to which history does an ample job of attesting? The Gemara says that
the righteous, even in death, are called "alive." They are alive, because
their legacy lives on long after their bodily functions cease. We visit
their
grave sites, asking them for their intercession. We consult their
teachings,
looking for wisdom and advice. And we ask ourselves, "How would my
teacher have acted in such a scenario?" Their memories, teachings, and
spirit take on a vibrant life of their own, perhaps in some ways more
significant than when they were alive in a physical sense. Every time a
Jew visits kever Rochel, and beseeches our Matriarch to arouse Hashem's
mercy on His children, Rachel lives.

This, says R' Yechezkel Abramsky, is the significance of Yosef, "placing
his
hands on Yaakov's eyes." It symbolizes Yosef continuing to seek the
wisdom and "foresight" of Yaakov after he dies. Yaakov may die, yet his
vision will live on, perpetuated by Yosef and future generations after him.

It was not for fear of physical hardship that Yaakov dreaded Egypt.
Yaakov was concerned for the spiritual challenges Egypt would thrust on
his family - would they be able to remain steadfast in their commitment
to the Patriarchal vision and the legacy began by his grandfather Avraham
and his father Yitzchak? "I will come down with you to Egypt," Hashem
promises - just like now, upon your descent, your offspring know and
perpetuate the vision of One G-d, so too "I will bring you up," more than
two hundred years later, Hashem promises Yaakov that He will be with
the Jews when they leave; they will not sever their bond with the
Almighty. How indeed? "Yosef will place his hand on your eyes." Yosef,
who will inherit the mantle of leadership, will do so not as a daring rebel
determined to make his own mark on history, but rather as the trusted
custodian of Yaakov's legacy. It is in this sense, says R' Abramsky, that
Chazal state emphatically, "Our father Yaakov never died. (Ta'anis 5b)"
Yosef made sure of that.

Ever since Adam ate from the Tree of Knowledge, man has sought the
secret to eternal life. It is not to be found in some hidden fountain of
youth, nor in the dusty annals of a forgotten medical journal. Eternal life
exists for those who live a life worth perpetuating. By clinging to the
Ways of the Fathers, we become a further link in the chain that
stretches all the way back to the faint beginnings of a nation.